The 2024 NACADA Annual Conference Committee has been working hard to deliver the best conference possible from October 27th to 30th in Pittsburgh, PA. Although there are a few details we need to hold back to surprise you with later, we wanted to give you a peek behind the scenes of what we have been up to so far.
First, prior to the 2023 annual conference, we sorted through applications for this year’s conference committee. We ultimately chose 16 members for the committee who represented a mix of experience levels in both academia and NACADA. This team began meeting monthly immediately following the 2023 annual conference, and you will get to hear from all of them in upcoming blogs.
In January, we visited Pittsburgh to tour the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and all of the conference hotels. Every single hotel is unique in its own way, and we think members will be very pleased with their options. Despite a whirlwind day and a half of touring sites, we managed to find time to check out the local scene as well as to explore places conference participants may want to venture to during their free time. More details on what we discovered and all of our other hospitality plans will be in future blogs.
Later in January, we worked collaboratively with the NACADA Research Committee to select an opening and closing keynote for the conference. We feel both keynotes will provide the audience with a warm hug worthy of Mr. Rogers himself. Stay tuned for more details on these fabulous speakers.
Finally, at the end of March, we assisted with the selection of posters, pre-conference sessions, and concurrent sessions for the conference. This was by far the most difficult thing we have ever had to do on behalf of the association. The submissions were phenomenal, but in the end, there were a limited number of presentation slots available. Please know that if your proposal was not selected, it is no reflection on the quality of your work, and we sincerely hope you will not be discouraged from submitting again in the future.
Overall, we are humbled to have been selected as your 2024 conference chairs and can’t wait to share the magnificent city of Pittsburgh with you in October.
Chris Kirchhof, University of Pittsburgh
Karen Lewis, University of Maryland College Park
NACADA 